The Mystery of Blood Lake
by AliciaMarieL
Summary: Hehe... So, the gang decides a relaxing week at a cabin by a lake is in order. Someone has other plans. Rated M.
1. The Game Part1

_**kk, I do not own Scooby Doo or the characters!**_

_**I just use them.**_

"Hey, Fred, so you wanted to talk?" Shaggy asked.

"I think we should surprise the girls." Fred said. "I found this nice, secluded 3 bedroom cabin up near the mountains. What do you think? We can take the Mystery Machine, of course, for our bags and anything we need. But we should go for a week. What do you say?"

Shaggy nodded. "All right, Fred. I'll, like, call you later."

* * *

"So, who rented this cabin to you?" Daphne asked.

"I found an ad for it." Fred explained. "Thought it'd be a good getaway."

"So, how far into the woods is it?" Velma asked.

"Not much farther, we should be there in about 5 minutes. It's right on the lake."

"Anyone want to place a bet on how long we'll be able to relax before we discover a mystery?" Velma asked. "Always happens."

"Well, last time we went anywhere it was 4 hours." Daphne said. "It'll probably be by tomorrow morning."

"We'll probably end up finding some fish monster." Shaggy said.

"Who bothers other cabins to scare visitors away." Daphne added.

"And the person behind the mask-" Fred added.

"Will be the owner of these cabins." Velma finished.

The gang started laughing.

"I hope we get more than one night for this vacation."

* * *

Early the next morning, Shaggy was woken up by Scooby's low growls.

"Come on, Scoob. It's too early." He said, throwing the covers off.

"Romeone's routside."

"Maybe it's one of the others. Go back to sleep." Shaggy said. "Look, I'll open the door. No one's there."

There was a scream from the other bedroom. Shaggy heard Velma bolt up in bed behind him, and a second later she was next to him.

"Daph?" Velma called as they slowly approached the door. There was a loud smash and another scream. Shaggy threw the door open.

Daphne was cowering by the closet, clutching her robe to her. Blood covered one of the pillows and half of the bed. The window was smashed, and there was a large dark figure retreating clutching a limp blood covered body.

Velma pushed into the room and knelt where Daphne had sunk to the ground.

"Daphne- what happened?" Velma asked.

"I don't know- we were sleeping- that thing came in- it took Fred!"

"It's, like, headed toward the lake." Shaggy said. "Everyone get dressed. We have, like, a mystery to solve."


	2. The Game Part2

_**kk, I do not own Scooby Doo or the characters!**_

_**I just use them.**_

They were walking down toward the lake.

"What exactly happened?" Velma asked.

"I told you." Daphne said. "We were asleep, I guess the window was open. I felt something sharp on my leg and I woke up to that thing reaching for my ankle. I guess Fred noticed first, because he threw the lamp at it. And I guess it got mad. It grabbed Fred and there was a bit of a fight. I closed the window hoping maybe it would keep the thing from leaving."

"And he smashed through it." Velma finished.

"Hey. There's something here." Shaggy called.

Velma and Daphne caught up with Shaggy, kneeling down with him.

"Is that-?"

"-a window." Shaggy finished.

Daphne shoved the leaves and sticks away to reveal a window in a small hill. Upon more digging, it became clear what it was.

"Jinkies." Velma said. "A hidden house."

Daphne grabbed a rock. She broke a pane of the window, reaching through. Her hand closed around a handle and she pulled it gently. She removed her arm and pushed the window open the rest of the way.

"Daph- if someone lives here-" Shaggy said.

"Oh please. There's too much dust inside." She said, lowering herself through the window.

Velma and Shaggy exchanged looks. Velma shrugged and followed Daphne. It took Shaggy and Scooby a few more seconds to follow.

They were standing in a small room with a desk. Daphne was over at the desk, searching through everything.

"Oh. Guys, come look at this." Daphne said. She turned to them as they approached. She was holding a file folder.

Inside were pictures of the gang, anywhere they had been in the past 3 weeks- and the date they would arrive at the cabin.

"This must be the guy Fred got the cabin from." Daphne said.

"And he does this to everyone who stays here, or-?"

The floor beneath them opened and they fell into darkness. The fall was quick and they landed on hard rock. Daphne heard her ankle snap. Velma landed sharply on her shoulder, and her glasses were smashed. Scooby had landed flat on the ground, landing on Shaggy, whose wrist had snapped.

"How nice of your friends to join us, Fred." A voice said. The rest of the gang looked up, to see a looming figure sitting above them. By his side, Fred was bound up. The figure stood. He looked about 8 feet tall, and his face was always dark.

"Who are you?" Velma asked, squinting to try and see.

"I suppose you could call me The Shadow, but that's the game. If you figure me out, you live."

"And if we don't?" Daphne asked.

"One by one, you'll be picked off. There will be a few levels. Beat a level, you'll all move on. Fail and one of you will be killed." The Shadow said. "There will be obstacles which will work against you, but there where will be objects to aid your way if used correctly."

"And what if we, like, refuse?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, I could kill you all now." The Shadow said. He moved by Fred. "Your friend here was the bait to gather you here. I need all five of you together for this to work as planned." Fred was untied and knocked down by The Shadow. Daphne grabbed his arm and pulled him near her. One of his shoulders was bloodied, an injury probably sustained during his struggle with The Shadow.

"I will be watching your progress. If one of you dies before completing a task, that means you fail and another dies. There will be 5 levels, 5 opportunities to die or outsmart me. It's up to you to figure out your way out of each level." The Shadow said.


	3. Level 1

_**kk, I do not own Scooby Doo or the characters!**_

_**I just use them.**_

The Shadow had disappeared, leaving the gang in what looked like an underground cave. Behind them was deep water, a waterfall at the far end of the cave told them what they already knew.

"We're under the lake." Fred said.

"This is level 1. I'll give you three clues in each level." The Shadow's voice said. "Find the key, find the door. It won't be easy. Your first clue: Hold your breath."

"Are you kidding?" Velma huffed. "'Hold your breath'? What kind of clue is that?"

Fred was looking around for some sort of clue. Daphne was sitting down, trying to untie her shoe from her swelling ankle. Part of a rock moved under Fred's hand and there was an odd noise from above.

The gang froze, looking upwards. The waterfall exploded, and the cave began to flood. First the small lake began to overflow onto the ledge they were sitting on. Daphne finally got her shoe off of her painful foot and Fred helped her up.

The waterfall continued to gush water in, speeding up.

Soon, the ledge they had been on was gone and the gang was holding the side of a higher ledge.

"I see you've activated an obstacle." The Shadow's voice said. "Maybe my next clue will find the key before you drown. Your second clue: Rock bottom."

"Guys, start searching." Fred said. "We have to get out of here."

The gang swam separate ways, looking for hidden ledges. Shaggy, Velma and Fred were having troubles swimming with injured arms, so Daphne and Scooby were away from the ledges searching. The water was rising rapidly, and Daphne finally noticed something along the bottom of the cave. It hurt her to kick her feet to keep herself up, but she and Scooby were the only ones able to swim proper.

"Guys! I think I know where it is!" Daphne said. "I think it's all the way at the bottom!"

"How far down?" Fred asked.

"All the way- I'm talking the bottom of that small lake before this place flooded." Daphne said.

"Are you sure?" Velma asked.

"No, not really." Daphne said. "But we don't exactly have a choice!"

Fred pushed himself away from wall of the cave. "That's too far for any of us." Fred said. "Even Scoob, and dogs are supposed be the best swimmers!"

"Well, we have to figure something out!" Daphne said. "You three can't swim with injured arms, let alone dive. I'll go, if I don't come back up in a couple minutes, Scooby follows. It'll be easier for me to dive- I only hurt my ankle. It'd work out better if someone with thumbs went down."

"Rumbs?" Scooby asked.

"Yes, we all know you can't exactly grip things the best." Daphne said. "I'll be back. Try to find a door along the walls. I'll be back."

Daphne dove, swimming towards the bottom. Her ankle hurt to propel herself downwards and it felt like an eternity before she finally reached the bottom.

There wasn't just one key. There was a key ring which had close to twenty keys on it. She grabbed it, and began to push herself upwards. She realised something was caught on her shorts and she reached down to try and free herself. Something wrapped around her ankle and she started struggling against the pain. She bit down on the key ring to reach down and try to free her leg.

She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to hold her breath. She felt something move by her, and caught sight of Scooby swimming near her. He bit at what was holding her ankle and a few seconds later, it had released her. She and Scooby swam upwards.

There was barely any space between the roof of the cave and the water, but it looked as if Fred and the others had found a way out. Daphne handed Fred the ring of keys.

"This was all I found." She said. "There's too many to test-"

"That's where you're wrong." Fred said. "The lock isn't a normal key lock. It needs a special key."

Fred was searching through for the certain key as the water finally reached the top of the cave. Daphne could barely see Fred fumbling the keys and she felt panic beginning to set in. She had only had a few seconds above water before being forced back under, and she was sure this it. She was sure she was going to drown. The slight vision that was available under the water was becoming fuzzy and she wasn't sure if it was dust in the water or if she was actually seeing black dots in her vision.

She felt someone's hand pull her towards a tunnel and after a few seconds, the water had become more shallow.

The tunnel sloped upwards and they finally crawled out onto dry grass.

"Are we out? Are we safe?" Velma asked, squinting.

Daphne coughed, laying across the grass. "I don't know-"

"I assume we're in level 2." Fred said.

"We, like, found the keys and that was all we were supposed to do. Right?" Shaggy asked.

Scooby shook water out of his fur while the gang caught their breath.

"Right you are." The Shadow's voice said. "You have completed the first level. Perhaps you are all smarter than I originally thought. Or maybe that was just luck. As you can see, you are now out of the water. However, there's nowhere to run. You are no longer near the lake. You will be able to return to your cabin and leave here once you complete this level."

"You said there were 5 levels! What kind of game are you playing?" Fred demanded.

"Ah, Mr Jones, there are 5 levels. You will understand soon. You have lasted through level 1, and I praise you on that. Level 2 will be much, much different. Don't celebrate your survival just yet." The Shadow said. The sky turned dark as he finished speaking.


	4. Level 2

_**kk, I do not own Scooby Doo or the characters!**_

_**I just use them.**_

The sky began to lighten slowly after a few minutes. Fred realised they had all been separated, and assumed the next level would be to find one another.

_Simple enough, _he thought to himself. Then he froze. _There was a catch. There was no way it would be that simple._

"Oh, Fred! There you are!" Daphne's voice said.

Fred turned around to face her. "Daph-"

Something was off. Daphne was no longer limping, she had both of her shoes and her ankle had no sign of discolouration.

"What happened to your ankle?" Fred asked.

"What are you talking about? Nothing happened!" Daphne said, approaching him. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fred?" A voice behind him said.

Fred turned, and there was another Daphne behind him. This one was missing a shoe, her ankle swollen and she was leaning on a tree for support.

"Daph?" Fred looked between the two. He backed from the one that had approached, toward the real Daphne.

"There's two of everyone." The real Daphne said. "I had a run with Velma- but she had glasses! Velma lost hers in the water, remember?"

Fred reached the real Daphne as the fake one turned and walked off into the trees again.

"So- we have to find the real us?" Fred asked.

"I guess-"

"That Daphne, she wasn't injured-" Fred said.

"And the Velma had glasses." Daphne finished. "So, the copies of us don't show any injuries or anything."

"So, we find the others." Fred said.

"Maybe we should try finding Velma first- she can't see without her glasses, she'll get lost-" Daphne said.

"We're all technically lost, aren't we?" Fred asked.

Daphne gave him a look. "You know what I mean!"

Fred nodded. "Can you walk all right? You shouldn't be putting weight on it-"

"How am I supposed to walk in that case?" Daphne asked.

Fred reached down and scooped her up. "I'll handle that."

"Fred, your shoulder-"

"It's a cut, Daph." Fred said. "I can still move."

* * *

_Oh God. Everything's blurry. _Velma thought as she felt the ground around her.

"Guys?" She called. "Fred? Shag? Scooby?"

"Daph?"

Silence.

"Anyone?" She called, desperate. She knew if she stood, she had the risk of tripping over something she wouldn't see.

Staying close to the ground would be best. If this was level 2, how would it be completed? What did they have do to?

"Relma?"

"Scoob? Is that you?" Velma asked.

"Reah!"

"Where are you?"

She felt Scooby's paw on her shoulder and sighed with relief. "Do you know where anyone else is?"

"Ro."

"Scoob, you have to be my eyes. We'll walk and see if we can find anyone." Velma said, rising from the ground.

* * *

"Scooby Doo?" Shaggy called. He had been wandering for who-knows-how long with no luck of finding anyone else. "Buddy, where are you?"

Fred stepped out from behind a tree. His shirt was clean, no sign of blood. Shaggy did a bit of a double take, wondering if all of this had been a dream.

"Fred, what like, happened to you? Wasn't your shoulder like, injured?" Shaggy asked.

Fred shrugged, walking closer. When he was close enough, Fred struck at Shaggy. Shaggy was surprised and attempted to react during the next punch. Fred moved quickly, and soon had him pressed on the ground. His hands closed around Shaggy's throat, and Shaggy tried to push him. He felt himself gasping for air when he heard a growl.

Fred was thrown backwards by a brown blur, who bit down on Fred's hand. Fred shoved Scooby away and walked back into the trees.

Shaggy pushed himself up and saw, to his relief, Velma standing against a tree and Scooby running towards him.

"Scoob! Velma!"

"Raggy!"

"You're alone, Shaggy?" Velma asked, making her way forward.

Shaggy nodded and then realised Velma didn't have glasses on. "Yeah. Have you seen the others?"

"Well, kind of." Shaggy said. "Something's not right here. Fred just attacked me-"

"It wasn't Fred." Daphne's voice said behind them. Shaggy turned to find Fred and Daphne making their way toward them. Fred gently placed Daphne on her feet, maintaing a grip on her.

"I figured as much, this Fred had no blood on his shirt." Shaggy said.

"So, you've managed to avoid the fakes. Let's see you find the door. One of the fakes has a key. I'll also give you a clue here. Your first clue is: Up." The Shadow's voice said.

"'Up'? You have to be kidding me." Velma said. "We have to find a key, and then go up?"

"It sounds like that." Fred said.

"So, we have to find the clones." Daphne said. "Have any of you seen yourself?"

The entire gang shook their heads.

"Maybe we should-"

"Split up?" Fred offered.

"That way we can cover more ground. And if I'm right, maybe these clones don't appear in view of their real counterparts." Daphne said.

"What made you figure all of that out?" Fred asked.

"I saw Velma, but she had glasses. Then I heard Velma's voice from somewhere else and the fake Velma walked off. And when I found Fred, my counterpart walked off." Daphne explained.

* * *

Daphne struggled through the trees. She heard rustling behind her and turned. The clean, uninjured Fred stepped out of the bushes.

"hey, daph."

"Give me the key." Daphne demanded.

"I could, but I don't have it." The Fred smirked. "Besides, my job here to is to stop you from escaping. And I plan to do just that."

He started to approch Daphne, and she turned to run. It hurt and she felt like she'd pass out from the pain. She could hear the Fred chasing her, and her heart was skipping beats. She tripped on a root, falling down a sharp slope that led to a dusty patch of rock.

She rolled to a painful stop, and she heard footsteps approach. The fake Fred grabbed her hair, throwing her back down.

"Running won't do any good." he smirked, wrapping his hands around her throat. "It's a shame, really. Almost got Shaggy earlier. At least I'll get one kill today."

* * *

"Hello, Shaggy." A voice said as Shaggy burst into a clearing. Daphne was seated upon a boulder in a small clearing, twirling a small key ring on her finger.

"I know what you're looking for." She said. "Too bad I can't give it to you."

"Hand it over." Shaggy said.

Daphne stood, smirking. "Nice try. Everyone knows what a coward you really are. You want it? Come and take it." She held out her hand, extending the key. "Go on. Take it."

Shaggy took a few steps forward and Daphne retracted her hand. "It won't be that easy, Norville."

"Just hand it over." Shaggy demanded, grabbing a heavy stick.

"Ooh, what are you going to do?" Daphne taunted. "I'm your best friend. You wouldn't strike me, would you? Besides, you're too cowardly."

Shaggy swung the stick, striking fake Daphne across the head. She fell limp, and Shaggy grabbed the key. He continue running, looking for the other members.

"Shaggy, over here!" Fred yelled, emerging. "I've got Velma with me, too!"

"I got the key. Daph- er, fake Daphne had it." Shaggy said.

"All right. We stick together. We just need Scooby and Daphne now, then we find the door." Velma said.

They heard Fred's voice coming from close by, and quiet whimpers. The gang moved forward, and found Daphne laying in the dust. Scooby was facing fake Fred. Upon seeing real Fred, the fake Fred began to retreat into the trees. Shaggy ran forward, striking the fake Fred with the stick.

"You better not have touched my dog!" Shaggy said, after fake Fred fell.

"Daph? You okay?" Fred asked, kneeling by Daphne.

Daphne shook her head. "I fell down that thing- I think I hit my head." She said.

"Okay, we're almost there. It's almost over." Fred said, lifting her. "We'll find the door and get out of here."

They walked, searching for any sign of the door.

"Ah, you've got the key. Maybe I underestimated you. I'll give you one last clue." The Shadow said. "The door requires one to climb."

The gang continued on, looking at any higher places, hoping for the door.

"There!" Shaggy said, pointing toward a tree. The tree was large, and half way up its height, a tree house stood. A ladder reached toward the ground.

"That must be the door." Fred said. "I'll climb and check." He placed Daphne on her feet, and she sat on a fallen log, her head on her knees.

Fred began to climb, taking only seconds to reach the top.

"There's a door in here!" Fred called back down. "Shaggy, make sure the girls get up- I'll pull them up once they get high enough."

It took almost half an hour to get everyone up the ladder. Opening the door, they found themselves at the front door of the cabin. They closed the door behind them, walking into the living room.

"Now what?" Daphne asked, leaning against the couch. "We die here?'

"Well done, you've completed level 2 of my game. By this point, I usually only have a few players left. You have all proven yourselves greatly. If you open the front door now, you will find your van. Enjoy level 3." The Shadow's voice said.


	5. Not a Chapter

_**Dear readers,**_

_**I'm sorry this isn't an update! I'm posting this to let you know I am starting my final year of school in 2 days(Sept 3rd) which means I'm busy preparing for it. **_

_**I promise to update all of these stories as soon as I can! The first week of school is always hectic(especially for Grade 12- and I have a few lower grade courses to get into as well) so it may be a few weeks until the next update. **_

_**Later today, I should hopefully have a new shorter story posted for all of you. I won't lie, I'm a little stuck on a few of my stories. So I'll post a short story I've had in my had for a while. **_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**Alicia Marie**_


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